Spain Viaje - July 2014

Arrived earlier that morning. Here in Madrid's Atocha Train station. Lindsey showing Avi the ropes for purchasing Circanias train tickets(billetes) for a visit to the university town of Alcala de Henares, where Lindsey is staying...about a 45 minute train ride from Madrid.

One of the many bars in Alcala de Henares. Love the concept or ordering drinks and getting free tapas with your drink.

Street leading to Alcala de Henares University...
Alcala with its cobblestoned streets is a UNESCO World heritage site and is the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote.

University at Alcala de Henares.

Inside courtyard of that University building.

Someone is looking at you!

We walked on the shady side of the street as the sun is intense in Spain in July. Almost all stores and businesses close during siesta time, roughly between 2-5 pm in the afternoon when people go to eat or rest. Restaurants close and have their siesta time roughly from 4 or 5 until 8 or 9pm when they open again for dinner.

Churros are dipped in thick gooey hot chocolate. Typically eaten for breakfast, but we decided to have this as an afternoon snack as a treat after walking around Alcala...

Ah, relaxing on our two and a half hour high speed train(the AVE, Alta Velocidad Española) ride from Madrid to Barcelona. Spain has the second longest high speed railway network in the world, 1st is China.

Sunset from our funky window. Nice!!
In Spain(or that part of the world), the sun sets about an hour later than here in the states.

The whole shower situation open to the rest of the room.

Had to use a paper clip for shower privacy since the curtains don't go all the way around the shower...thank goodness I brought it:-)

View of the city from our room

Beautiful sunset

A bottle of vino tinto(red wine) for our first evening in Spain.

Foie Gras(top) and croquettes(bottom). Delicioso!

Salad and OMG... Jamon(ham) Iberico! The best...even better are the ones designated Iberico de Bellota, acorn fed!! Beats Serrano Jamon hands down and a price to boot. Iberico is darker in color and richer in flavor with a hint of sweetness! From large black pigs roaming the mountains.

Yum. Dessert of chocolate cake and ice cream with mango sauce... Yum!

After dinner, we decided to check out the roof top bar and pool area at our hotel.

Hermanas(sisters)!

Linds and Avi with backdrop of pool, bar, and lights of Barcelona!(oops pardon my finger got in the way😁)

Cool building next to the hotel

Lindsey lounging!

Video clip of rooftop bar and pool.

The next morning...took the open air stairs down from our room 21st floor to 16th floor. Central stairway of the hotel was nice with botanical plants...

Scary hotel elevator ride open to everything(if you are scared of heights like me)...whoah, is that an Ikea store?

Lunch time at La Fonda restaurant at the Port Olimpic. Port Olimpic was built as a marina for the sailing events for the 1992 Olympics. Today it is lined with many restaurants and bars.

This yummy paella dish is supposed to be for 3 people. More like for 10 people. Next time we order paella, we'll order the 1 or 2 people size. It was so delicious and the seafood was fresh!

Lindsey doesn't eat seafood, but there was chicken in there so it was all good since it didn't taste fishy, but sooo yummy!

Shots, compliments of the house;-) We got to choose between the herbal one on the left and a peach schnapps. We chose the mystery one and we chose well!

Unusual sculpture as we rush to the Metro to start our Gaudi journey. Barcelona is a very artsy city.

We dedicated the afternoon to visiting some of Antoni Gaudí's famous works. We began with a selfie in front of the Nativity Facade to the Sagrada Familia. Work commenced in 1882 and this Roman Catholic church is still under construction and scheduled to be completed in 2026, 100 years after Gaudí's death.

This World Heritage site is made up of different architectural styles, gothic, modernism, art nouveau. It's very organic and fluid. The Nativity facade depicted the early life of Jesus Christ.